[Synotic]

OK, I'm trying to turn a basic Photoshop mockup into an InDesign document and then a PDF file which I'll get printed. The problem is I don't know how to exactly achieve some of the cutout effects I have going on. Rather than try to explain it, here's basically what I'm trying to do:



I'm guessing that what I'm trying to do is fairly easy but I can't seem to figure it out. With Photoshop, I just have some basic masks that cut off the text at various places (the blue and yellow text is cut off by the overall border and by the two "title boxes" in the middle).

So my questions are� can I somehow use masks the same way I can in Photoshop or is it possible to change the dimension's of a text's bounding box without actually affecting the text's flow... allowing me to clip to text?

My second question was regarding Photoshop PDF. While searching for anything that might help me with my problem, I read about Photoshop PDF which effectively converts a Photoshop document to PDF, but maintaining the transparency and text as vector. It seems to do fairly well with my document� it works with Acrobat and I can print it, although Preview doesn't display it properly. Are Photoshop PDFs any different from standard PDFs? Is there a reason Preview doesn't properly display it? I might just resort to using Photoshop PDF since my PS document has everything I need.

I don't want to sound urgent, but I'd like to get this done before Monday so I can get it printed in time. This is just for a school project, so I can just print a copy on my inkjet if I can't figure this out, but I'd like to print it on a little bit bigger/better quality paper than I can do myself.

Thanks for any help

P.S. I realize that this is a huge subject, but are there any steps I can take to at least marginally tweak my printer/document settings to make the print a little more like what's on my display? The dark burgundy color which serves as the background shows up as almost completely black with the "REPEATING BACKGROUND TEXT" a slightly lighter dark gray. I only have 6 colors to deal with... can I keep printing the 6 colors on a piece of paper and keep trying to adjust it appropriately? Or would this only help with my printer and not the one that would eventually print out my document?

P.P.S. Is it just me or is the "overlay" blending mode slightly different in InDesign than it is in Photoshop?

[the weatherman]

InDesign can do this project and much more. I would always recommend Illustrator orInDesign for projects requiring a lot of texts rather than using Photoshop (although admittedly PS now can handle text well, it is still far from what Ai or ID can do.

1. After doing your repeating text back ground and you are happy with how the text flows, you can convert it to outline/path and use its frame/mask to clip/crop the text to your desired form.
Ai and ID basically use the same principle with regards to cropping objjects whether vector or bitmap. They use masks. It is just a little easier with ID. Which means you can make masks/frames of any shape and size (as your document may allow).

Use the transparency pallette for some of your effects. It is not as extensive as PS, but it will do most of what you require.

2. Have not tried with the Photoshop PDF, but they should be similar to if not the same as standard pdf. I know Photoshop might/will rasterize the standard pdfs wen opened.

3. With regards to printing, try to use colorsync for your colormatching needs. Which means you need to calibrate your monitor to make sure you are really seeing the right colors.

[Synotic]

the weatherman, thank you for your help, I really appreciate it

Originally posted by the weatherman:
InDesign can do this project and much more. I would always recommend Illustrator orInDesign for projects requiring a lot of texts rather than using Photoshop (although admittedly PS now can handle text well, it is still far from what Ai or ID can do.

1. After doing your repeating text back ground and you are happy with how the text flows, you can convert it to outline/path and use its frame/mask to clip/crop the text to your desired form.
Ai and ID basically use the same principle with regards to cropping objjects whether vector or bitmap. They use masks. It is just a little easier with ID. Which means you can make masks/frames of any shape and size (as your document may allow).

I am able to easily change the text to outline form but at that point, resizing the frame simply resizes the text. How can I have it simply clip the text?

Use the transparency pallette for some of your effects. It is not as extensive as PS, but it will do most of what you require.

Both Photoshop and InDesign have the overlay blending mode but InDesign seems to be a little bit more dull and brighter at the same opacity (40%):



But if I can figure out how to clip the text, I can just individually set the colors...

3. With regards to printing, try to use colorsync for your colormatching needs. Which means you need to calibrate your monitor to make sure you are really seeing the right colors.

I think I've done both of those... but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I've turned on "ColorSync" in Photoshop, and then in InDesign and they chose the colors in Photoshop and put them into InDesign successfully (color was the same). Then when I chose to print, in the print dialog, I chose to use "ColorSync". But don't I also need a printer profile to characterize how my printer prints?... What I think is interesting though, is that if I turn off color management, my dark burgundy turns the same grayish color as in the print, although a little bit brighter:



Which makes me think that maybe my printer isn't actually correcting the colors (I did two prints, one with color management on, one without... they were identical). This is the one setting that I see:



Am I missing something? Again, thanks for your response; I think I'm pretty close to doing what I'm trying to do.

[the weatherman]

Sorry to have replied a bit late.

To clip the text in outline form. Make a new frame and using right click or the edit menu, use the paste into command after selecting the new frame.

With regards to the blending mode, is the file in Photoshop RGB or CMYK? If it is RGB, it would be brighter. InDesign's default is CMYK. You can use RGB and the blend modes and of course the image is always a bit brighter in RGB, but the minute you use the blend/transparency mode it previews the image in CMYK mode, this might explain why the blends look duller.

With regards to printing, to tell you the truth, I never trust my inkjet to print the exact color I see on my screen. I do work in print but inkjet printing/photoprinting are different to offset printing. They use different technologies, but proofing seems to be getting closer.

Turn on color management on both InDesign and Photoshop (and colorsync), make sure both use the same spects in RGB, CMYK and Gray. In your printer just use the recommended/default workflow and see what comes out.

I usually get better results printing from InDesign than in PS (after distilling a file or turning it to bitmap), but then I have not really solved PS's issues with my printer.